Is it Forshaw who says that if the juvenile fig-parrots are different
from BOTH parents, then it must be a new species (rather than a
subspecies). The three current sub-species have juveniles with
plumage similar to one parent...
Cheers,
Judith.
This scenario is also raised in the last edition of Forshaw, reading it
last night.
_____
Steven Creber
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Jeff Davies
Sent: Thursday, 9 November 2006 12:16 AM
To:
Subject: [Birding-Aus] 4th Fig or just adult Coxan's?
Could John Youngs bird just be the previously unknown plumage for adult
male
coxeni. Not a new taxa but a new plumage. The current description for
coxeni
adults is based on specimens which look incredibly like subadult males
to
me. The female specimen was not surgically sexed but based on apparently
slightly less colourful face markings. Could all of the specimens be
subadult males and John's bird be the first described adult male?
Marshalli
has a red face, maclayana has red cheeks and a red forehead, it would
appear
logical to me that coxeni then be reduced to red cheeks only. The blue
was
there all along and just increasingly revealed in each subspecies as the
red
is taken away. Seems a more likely possibility to me than a fourth taxa.
Cheers Jeff Davies.
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